As the stress of the semester mounts, students can take a break through a number of activities – mechanical bull included.

Today marks the first day of Cabin Fever, a week-long event sponsored annually by the All Campus Programming Board.

Cabin Fever is designed as an effort to reacquaint students with campus involvement after the lengthy holiday break. Students will be kept entertained by an offering of activities, games and visitors.

“Students face changes coming back into the school year,” said senior marketing major Shayla Patton, who is also coordinating Cabin Fever week for the board. “Classes begin to get intense after three or four weeks in. We are trying to give students something to do and enjoy apart from the stress. We want them to see what their campus can offer.”

Cabin Fever begins tonight from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Kiva and will feature a lecture by author and activist Lena Williams.

Williams is most famous for her work “It’s the Little Things,” a collection and discussion of characteristics that divide people of different skin color through misunderstanding. She has spoken on the subject of race at many campuses across the country and was hailed by Kansas State University Black Student Union President Natalie Rolfe as “a fantastic speaker and a joy to be around.”

The events continue Wednesday, when students who venture into the Student Center Ballroom will see sights ranging from dancing to a mechanical bull. The “Game Day” will run from 2 to 6 p.m. and feature bull riding, a Halo tournament for Xbox players, interactive DVD games and an arcade-style basketball hoop. A DJ will also fill the ballroom with some modern beats.

Students are invited to conclude “Game Day” by attending the Kent State Women’s Basketball game at 7 p.m. as the team faces off against Ohio.

Activities will officially conclude on Thursday night when Ilyasah Shabazz, the daughter of Malcolm X, speaks in the ballroom from 7 to 9 p.m.

Shabazz is the co-author of “Growing Up X: A Coming-of-Age Memoir,” which was nominated for the 2003 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Non-Fiction Literary Work and was also a United Press International Book of the Week.

Both Cabin Fever week speakers are co-sponsored by Black United Students. Organization member and junior clinical psychology major Taura Mitchell said that the speakers would likely address students on their position as individuals and in the higher educational system.

“They will also talk a lot about the past,” Mitchell said. “Our generation forgets about the past.”

Both lecturers were chosen for the experience and insight they could offer students.

“We brought them for what they could give to students,” Mitchell said. “We wanted something different on campus, something for everybody and something that would enrich the students’ lives. I think that’s what we accomplished.”

Contact on-campus entertainment reporter Ally Melling at [email protected].